10 Key Factors Influencing LTAD for AWADs
This AWAD supplementary document is based on and supported by available coaching and exercise science literature. This science is less well developed that for able-bodied athletes and No Accidental Champions should be seen as an exciting first step, written for coaches and drawing from their practical experience. The factors influencing LTAD for able-bodied athletes can be found in Canadian Sport for Life, pages 19-34.
1. The 10-Year Rule
Exactly how long it takes to become an elite AWAD varies from sport to sport, with the nature of the disability, and considerably with the pre-injury sporting experience and expertise of training athletes who acquire a disability. The highest level of performance in hotly contested sports appears to take the same time and level of commitment as it does for able-bodied athletes, which is approximately 10,000 hours of training over 10 years.
2. The FUNdamentals
Athletes, with and without a disability, need to acquire FUNdamental movement and sport skills, or physical literacy, through fun and games, and this needs to be achieved prior to puberty.
Children with a disability face difficulties in acquiring FUNdamental skills because
- overly protective parents, caregivers, rehabilitation facility staff, teachers, and coaches shield them from the bumps and bruises of childhood play.
- adapted physical education is not well developed in all school systems.
- some coaches and programs do not welcome children with a disability to their activities because of a lack of knowledge about how to integrate them.
- it takes creativity to integrate a person with a disability into a group activity where FUNdamental skills are practiced and physical literacy is developed.
The physical literacy skills needed by children with a disability vary greatly depending on the nature and extent of their disability and should include all such skills learned by able-bodied children (modified as required) as well as the additional skills required for effective use of assistive devices. Regardless of their previous physical skill, individuals who acquire a disability often have to learn new physical literacy skills such as wheeling their wheelchair, using a prosthetic limb, or accommodating a restricted range of movement. Even though they may be adults, it is critical that individuals effectively learn the FUNdamentals of new movement and sport skills so that those skills can be applied to a wide range of sports and recreational activities.
3. Specialization
Disability sports are late specialization sports (Canadian Sport for Life, page 22) and it is critically important that children with congenital or early-acquired physical or intellectual disability be exposed to the full range of FUNdamentals before specializing in the sport of their choice. Similarly, adults with an acquired disability should master their new FUNdamental movement skills before specializing in a single sport.
4. Age Factors
Some congenital disabilities are known to influence childhood and adolescent development and the timing of puberty; however, much more research is needed before a full understanding is achieved. Although the timing of puberty may vary, the sequence of development that the adolescent goes through usually does not. For example, children with spina bifida are known to experience puberty earlier than their peers and individuals with intellectual disability tend to enter puberty early but complete the process later. Because of variations in the timing of puberty (and therefore peak height velocity), it is likely that there will also be variations in the ages at which optimum periods of trainability occur.
5. Trainability
Little or nothing is known about periods of optimum trainability for individuals with a disability. In the absence of information to the contrary, it is suggested that for children with a congenital disability, the ages of optimum trainability, as shown in Canadian Sport for Life, page 27, be adjusted based on the observed age of puberty. Whether there are optimum periods of trainability during post-injury rehabilitation needs to be investigated.
6. Physical, Mental, Cognitive, and Emotional Development
Sport can play an important role in helping individuals with a physical or intellectual disability to develop a new, positive self-image as well as enhance their self-concept. For this reason, sport programs should consider the mental, cognitive, and emotional development of AWADs in addition to their physical development.
Consideration of mental, social, and emotional development is particularly important when working with athletes with intellectual disability and the developmental characteristics and implications for coaches (Canadian Sport for Life, page 54) need to be interpreted in light of each athlete's mental and developmental age, rather than chronological age.
With LTAD's holistic approach to athlete development, programs for AWADs need to place emphasis on ethical behaviour, fair play, and character building throughout the various stages. Particularly for athletes with an intellectual disability, consideration must be given to the athletes' ability to understand and apply these concepts.
7. Periodization
There is no evidence that periodization for AWADs is substantially different from that for able-bodied athletes. It is therefore suggested that the recommendations on periodization in Canadian Sport for Life, pages 28-30, be followed. Since disability may reduce functional muscle mass and aerobic capacity, fatigue in AWADs should be carefully monitored, and rest and recovery periods should be adjusted
accordingly.
8. Calendar Planning for Competition
Within the able-bodied Canadian sport system, under-training and over-competition are common and the ratios for training to competition (Canadian Sport for Life, page 31) should be applied. There is no evidence to suggest different ratios for AWADs.
Effective competition for AWADs in all classifications needs to be matched to the athletes' stage of development. This can be a problem when there are few athletes in a particular sport or classification/division within that sport. Creative solutions to this problem need to be developed, particularly for athletes with greater levels of disability.
Currently, local and international levels of competition (suitable for the Learning to Train and Training to Win stages) are more readily available than competition suitable for athletes at the Training to Train and Training to Compete stages
[1], This gap in the competition calendar must be eliminated if optimum development is to occur.
9. System Alignment and Integration
Since Canadian Sport for Life focuses on athlete development through Canada's sport system, No Accidental Champions focuses on aligning the many components of that system for AWADs. This includes development of competition, coaching, funding, facilities and equipment, training partners, sport science, ancillary services, daily living support, and talent identification and development. Without sport system alignment and integration, optimum benefits for AWADs will not be achieved.
10. Continuous Improvement
Sport for AWADs is relatively young and, like many newer sports, is developing at an incredible rate. New research, new equipment, and new techniques appear rapidly worldwide, and to put Canadian athletes "out front", sport organizations must be on the alert to take advantage of all new information. Evaluating that information, selecting what information will be used, and then integrating it into programs and services must be an active, ongoing process, tied to the concept of continuous improvement, which permeates LTAD. This concept ensures that LTAD for AWADs:
- responds and reacts in a timely manner to new scientific and sport specific data, observations, and research.
- is a continuously evolving vehicle for positive change in the sporting, recreation, and physical education lives of individuals with a disability.
- promotes ongoing education and sensitization of federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal governments, the mass media, and the Canadian sport system to the needs and expectations of AWADs.
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